Immigrant Cabbie Testifies How Courtroom `Hustle` Worked

May 08, 1987|By William B. Crawford Jr.

In 1982 Gregor Kinkov, a Soviet immigrant who worked part-time as a cabdriver, appeared in a misdemeanor branch of Cook County Circuit Court at 5555 W. Grand Ave. because he had been ticketed for a violation of a city taxicab ordinance at O`Hare International Airport.

Speaking in broken English, Kinkov testified in U.S. District Court Thursday that he appeared in the branch court without an attorney, believing that, at best, he would be let off with a reprimand or, at worst, receive a small fine.

As it turned out, the misdemeanor charge against Kinkov, who had arrived in the United States from his native land only months before, was thrown out by the judge.

But not before Kinkov paid $200 to James Oakey, an attorney he had never seen before, the immigrant testified.

What Kinkov didn`t know, prosecutors contend, was that he had walked into the middle of a corrupt scheme called the ``hustlers bribery club.``

Prosecutors say the club was made up of a small group of corrupt lawyers, including Oakey, who paid huge monthly bribes for the exclusive right to hustle defendants who appeared in branch courts without a lawyer.

Testifying in the fourth day of Oakey`s trial on multiple counts of conspiracy, racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud and income tax evasion, Kinkov said that he had been approached by a court clerk.

The clerk, Kinkov said, examined his receipt for the $100 bond he had put up for the alleged violation. The clerk told him the offense appeared serious and ordered him to wait in a hallway until an attorney contacted him, Kinkov said.

A few minutes later, he testified, Oakey walked up, examined the bond slip and warned Kinkov that he needed an attorney.

Oakey said he would be that attorney and promised to get an acquittal, Kinkov said. In return, he said, Oakey demanded the $100 in cash Kinkov had with him as well as the bond refund.

Kinkov said he agreed. And when asked by Assistant U.S. Atty. Scott Mendeloff why, he replied: ``I don`t know. Everyone say I have very, very serious case.``

Kinkov`s testimony, before a jury in the court of Judge James Holderman, represents the core of one category of crimes the government says Oakey committed, first while a Circuit Court judge from 1966 until 1977 and later while in private law practice.

Oakey was removed from the bench by Illinois Courts Commission for wrongdoing unrelated to the ongoing Operation Greylord investigation of wrongdoing in the Circuit Court.

Mendeloff and coprosecutor James Schweitzer contend that Oakey`s crimes fall into three categories:

In the early 1970s, while a judge assigned to Traffic Court, 321 N. LaSalle St., Oakey allegedly accepted bribes from attorneys to fix drunken-driving cases.

Then, after he entered private practice, Oakey allegedly bribed court clerks, deputy sheriffs and others to gain membership into the hustlers bribery club and obtain the exclusive franchise to hustle defendants who appeared in the Grand Avenue misdemeanor court without an attorney.

Finally, Oakey allegedly failed to file federal income tax returns for four years ending in 1983.

In earlier testimony, Lee Barnett, a member of the hustlers club who pleaded guilty to charges he paid bribes to judges, and James LeFevour, a former Chicago police officer and a self-acknowledged ``bag man,`` who also is cooperating in the Greylord inquiry, outlined how the bribery club worked.